Talk About Ticks - All the Basics

TICKS are related to spiders (arachnids) and are the largest of the order Acarina. The Ixodidae, or hard ticks, feed on the blood of vertebrate animals and can carry diseases that effect humans.

HARD TICKS have a round, flat body with a hard plate behind the head. All ticks need a blood meal for each developmental stage. The young tick or LARVA has only 6 legs. The teenage tick or NYMPH, has 8 legs like an ADULT tick. The mouth parts are very sharp for piercing skin to reach blood. Ticks can't hop, jump, fly, swim, or make noises.

The EGG CLUSTER produced by the female in the spring or summer can hatch out 6500 Larvae, each as small as this period. The larvae feed on mice, birds, and meadow voles.

After 30-40 days (or in some ticks, up to a year), the larvae becomes a Nymph. Though some are no bigger than a poppy seed, with 8 legs, nymphs can climb a bit higher, and hold hooked feet out to catch onto a passing meal. Birds, small mammals, --and humans, are hosts for the Black-legged tick and Lone Star tick, while the Dog tick nymph feeds again on mice and voles.

After another 30-40 days, nymphs become Adults, looking for their last blood meal. Larger and stronger, they hook onto large mammals: deer, farm animals, dogs, cats, raccoons, foxes -- and humans. After mating, the male dies. Females live until eggs hatch in spring.

LYME DISEASE is found in all 50 states and around the world. Deaths have been recorded.

TICKS known to transmit Lyme Disease are:
Ixodes pacificus and I. Scapularis, both Black-legged ticks, and Amblyomma americanum, the Lone Star tick. The disease organism is a spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi.

LYME DISEASE TICKS live in weedy areas. Leaf litter, low shrubs, underbrush, and field and trail edges are favored. In highly infected areas, lawns may have ticks.

BOTH NYMPH AND ADULT TICKS can transmit Lyme Disease. Peak periods are April through September, though unfed adults that live through the winter can bite on warm winter days. The Black-legged nymph is the size of a POPPY SEED, the adult the size of a SESAME SEED. Infection can be passed from the fluids of a tick through a cut or a scrape.

Only about 50% of Lyme disease patients recall seeing the bite or the rash.

LYME DISEASE SYMPTOMS must be treated early for quick recovery. Flu symptoms, and a rash at the bite (one rash looks like a bull's-eye, others look like bruises), painful joints and severe fatigue are often reported early signs, but do not always occur. Cardiac problems; joint, tendon and muscle pain; numbness; headaches; memory loss; and severe fatigue can occur at any time, along with many other disorders.

Lyme disease is treated with antibiotics and is not known to be contagious.

SEE A DOCTOR AT THE SUDDEN ONSET OF ANY COMBINATION OF THESE SYMPTOMS EVEN WITHOUT SEEING A TICK OR A RASH!

ROCKY MOUNTAIN SPOTTED FEVER (RMSF) occurs in most parts of the U.S. and can be fatal.
The Dog tick, Dermacentor variabilis, the Wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni, and the Lone Star tick, Amblyomma americanum can all transmit RMSF. The disease organism is a rickettsia, Rickettsia rickettsii.

May through July in the most active period for ticks and also for RMSF cases. These ticks live in weedy areas. Vacant city lots, farm fields, edges or roadsides, paths and hiking trails are the favored habitat. About 80% of spotted fever patients can recall a tick bite.

RMSF must be treated promptly. Delay has resulted in fatalities. RMSF SYMPTOMS are fairly easy to spot: 3->12 days after contact: chills, fever, headache, aching muscles, bone pain; 2nd or 3rd day after fever: rash on wrists and ankles spreading over the body, (even on palms and soles of feet). Antibiotics are used to treat RMSF. Early treatment can bring complete recovery.

HUMAN GRANULOCYTIC EHRLICHIOSIS (HGE) is transmitted by ticks that carry Lyme disease as well as those which carry RMSF. Increasingly found in the Midwest and in New England. HGE can be fatal. Fever, chills, aches, malaise, vomiting, headaches, and low platelet count and low white blood cell count are symptoms. HGE is treatable with specific antibiotics.

BABESIOSIS is a malaria-like illness with malaria-like symptoms transmitted by the same ticks which carry Lyme disease. Babesiosis is treated with anti-malarial or antibiotic drugs.

TULAREMIA (rabbit fever) is transmitted by wood ticks, dog ticks and Lone Star ticks. Flu-like symptoms and enlarged lymph nodes occur. Tularemia is treated with specific antibiotics.

Ticks do not "tick" or make any noise. They sense activity and body heat and drop off their perch onto a host, or hook on with their feet.

1. USE AN INSECT REPELLENT containing 25-35% DEET, on skin and clothing.

2. WEAR LONG PANTS. Tuck the legs into your socks. Light-colored clothes make it easier to spot ticks.

3. STAY IN THE MIDDLE OF HIKING TRAILS. Don't brush against leaves and weeds or hike through the underbrush.

4. CHECK FOR TICKS OFTEN. Crawling ones can be brushed off carefully.

5. TICKS CAN BE KILLED BY HEAT. Remove clothes and put them in a dryer for 1/2 hour as soon as you get home.

6. INSPECT YOURSELF - AND YOUR CHILDREN for attached ticks after a shower. A shower will not wash off biting ticks. Be sure to check hairy areas, the scalp, and behind the ears. Ticks crawl upward until they are stopped. Check legs, waistline, bra line, and armpits. Check your pets for ticks.

   
   

Ticks can carry several serious infections:
• Lyme disease
  
• Rocky mountain spotted fever
  
• Human granulocytic ehrlichiosis
  
• Babesiosis
  
• Tularemia

• ASSEMBLE A TICK KIT containing: pointed tweezers or a tick-lifting tool, a magnifying glass, a small vial (a film container is good), and an antiseptic.

• DON'T PANIC. Your chances of being infected are reported to occur at the end of the tick feeding cycle which may take hours.

• DO NOT use a hot match head, nail polish or vaseline on the tick. The tick will regurgitate and transmit infection.

• REMOVE THE TICK. Grasp the tick firmly by the head with the tweezers as close to your skin as possible. Avoid squeezing the tick's abdomen. Pull straight out. Don't twist.

• SAVE THE TICK in a container with a piece of damp tissue or a blade of grass. Refrigerate it until you check with a doctor.

• CLEAN THE BITE AREA. Blot the bite area with antiseptic. If any tick mouth parts remain in the skin, be sure to tell your doctor.

• WASH YOUR HANDS THOROUGHLY with soap and water.

• CHECK WITH A PHYSICIAN as soon as possible.

• REMOVING TICKS FROM YOUR PETS. Pull the tick out carefully with a tweezers, or tick-lifting tool. Save the tick and check with your veterinarian for further action. Don't let your pets run free in tall grass fields or in woods.

LYME DISEASE CAN OCCUR in any season, but more often in the summer months.

LYME DISEASE IS CAUSED by a spirochete bacterium spread by the bite of a tick.

LYME DISEASE TICKS ARE found all over the United States in vegetation and on animals.

I CAN AVOID BEING BITTEN by staying in the center of hiking paths; wearing light colored long pants, tucked into socks or boots, and long-sleeved shirts when in woods or tall grasses; using insect repellents containing less than 33.33% DEET sparingly on skin and pesticides containing permethrin on clothing only.

CHECK FOR TICKS on yourself and pets frequently while outside. Check again at home.

What if I find a tick attached to me?

• Never twist or squeeze the tick, and never use petroleum jelly, gasoline, or a hot match on an attached tick.
• Use tweezers, a tick-lifting tool, or cover your fingers with paper or a leaf, to grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible.
• Pull steadily and firmly until the tick lets go.
• Save the tick in a container with a few blades of grass to show your doctor and to send it away for identification.
• Wash your hands thoroughly and apply antiseptic to the tick bite.

Early warning signs of Lyme Disease are: a large, circular rash at least 2 in. across, that may grow in size (not everybody gets this rash); flu-like symptoms, stiff neck, extreme fatigue, headaches, and muscle and joint pain. Symptoms and severity may vary with each patient.

Treatment of Lyme Disease requires antibiotics. The earlier treatment begins, the easier to prevent severe, long-term effects.

Tick identification and testing is provided by the Vector-borne Disease Unit of the Ohio Dept. of Health. Call (614) 752-1029 for instructions.

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws